VIJAYAWADA : The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday directed Visakha Sri Sarada Peetham not to take up any construction activity at Gogarbham in Tirumala till further orders. The High Court also appointed an advocate commissioner to look into the violations in the constructions already taken up at the place.
A PIL was filed by Tirukshetrala Rakshana Samithi president Tumma Omkar complaining that Sarada Peetham had taken up construction in Tirumala against the rules and sought orders to demolish the structures.
When the PIL came up for hearing before the bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Rao Raghunandan Rao, the petitioner’s counsel Aditya Harshavardhan said Sarada Peetham had taken up constructions without leaving any setback space. Sarada Peetham’s counsel Satyanarayana said they had taken up the construction as per norms and submitted the revised plan to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). He informed the court that they had taken up the constructions to provide amenities to pilgrims.
After hearing both the sides, the court issued notices to the TTD Executive Officer, Principal Secretary (Endowments), TTD Chief Engineer and manager of Sarada Peetham, Tirumala, and posted the matter for further hearing on February 14.